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Covalent modification of proteins via phosphorylation is a well-documented mechanism whereby intracellular events are controlled by external stimuli. Treatment of thioglycollate-elicited, C57Bl/6 murine peritoneal macrophages with nanogram quantities of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) consistently results in altered 32Pi labeling of a specific set of proteins (e.g., proteins of 67, 37, 33, and 28 kD), as measured by autoradiography after SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Induction of this pattern of phosphorylation is duplicated by the lipid A moiety of LPS. The LPS-stimulated changes in phosphate labeling are both dose- and time-dependent. Of various pharmacologic agents tested, the phosphorylation pattern induced in macrophages by the tumor promoter phorbol myristic acetate shows similarity to the pattern induced by LPS. Analysis of pp 28 and pp 37 from both LPS- and PMA-treated macrophages by limited proteolysis demonstrates that these phosphoproteins are structurally related and that the sites of phosphorylation are similar for both treatment conditions. Macrophages from the genetically LPS-unresponsive C3H/HeJ strain show no alteration in their pattern of phosphorylation after treatment with LPS. Control macrophages, from C3H/HeN mice, respond to LPS in a fashion identical to that seen in C57Bl/6 macrophages. Pretreatment of macrophages with IFN-gamma potentiates the effect of LPS (i.e., yields a level of altered phosphate labeling greater than that observed with LPS or PMA alone). Together, the data indicate that LPS causes altered phosphate labeling of a defined set of proteins, and that the circumstances of this response are consistent with a possible role in coupling LPS-initiated signals to the induction of functional competence in macrophages.

The complex algal polysaccharide fucoidan has been reported as serving as a second signal for activation of macrophages primed in vivo by BCG. To assess the potential utility of this observation in analyzing biochemical mechanisms involved in macrophage activation, we examined the triggering effects of maleylated bovine serum albumin (maleylated-BSA), a defined molecule that clears via similar mechanisms. Cytolysis of P815 mastocytoma targets was triggered by maleylated-BSA, in a dose-dependent manner, in murine peritoneal macrophages primed in vivo by BCG. Unlike bacterial LPS, which triggered cytolysis when used to pretreat the macrophages, maleylated-BSA was only effective if present throughout the period of macrophage-target cytolytic interaction. Maleylated-BSA alone did not lyse the P815 targets and did not affect the binding of such targets by macrophages. Maleylated-BSA was equally effective in triggering cytolysis in BCG-primed macrophages from C3H/HeJ or C3H/HeN mice. Macrophages primed in vitro with IFN-gamma, however, could not be triggered by maleylated-BSA, even though these macrophages bound maleylated-BSA comparably to the BCG-primed macrophages. When responsive macrophages were fully activated in vitro by IFN-gamma and LPS and then allowed to decay to the primed state, maleylated-BSA was then as effective as LPS in triggering cytolysis. Taken together, the results indicate that maleylated-BSA can trigger cytolysis in certain populations of primed macrophages but not in others.

Expression of the c-fos, c-myc, and c-fms proto-oncogenes has been studied in thioglycollate-elicited murine peritoneal macrophages after exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). After incubation with LPS (20 ng/ml), a transient and rapid induction of the expression of c-fos and c-myc oncogenes could be observed, whereas the RNA levels for c-fms were not affected. Treatment with lipid A, the active moiety of the LPS molecule, increased the c-fos and c-myc expression to a comparable degree. Similar induction of c-fos and c-myc was observed after treatment with phorbol myristate acetate, suggesting that this effect of LPS on murine macrophages might be mediated through stimulation of protein kinase C. Under similar experimental conditions, LPS treatment of macrophages did not trigger DNA synthesis. Treatment with LPS blocked DNA synthesis in macrophages treated with L cell-conditioned medium containing colony-stimulating factor. Thus changes in c-fos and c-myc expression may be elements in the complex series of biochemical events that contribute to macrophage activation and are not necessarily related to induction or priming for cellular proliferation.

Murine macrophages from sites of inflammation develop toward tumoricidal competence by exposure to a macrophage-activating factor such as interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). To explore the biochemical transductional events initiated by IFN-gamma, peritoneal macrophages from C57BL/6J mice elicited by various sterile irritants were treated in vitro with two pharmacologic agents that mimic the action of certain second messengers. Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and the ionophore A23187 cooperatively reproduced the ability of IFN-gamma to prime macrophages for tumoricidal function. Neither agent alone was able to prime macrophages. The two agents acted on the macrophages, and target susceptibility to kill was not altered by PMA and A23187. Only active phorbol esters, which are known to bind and stimulate protein kinase C, were able to cooperate with A23187 to induce priming. A cell-permeable synthetic diacylglycerol (sn-1,2-dioctanoyl glycerol) could also prime for cytolysis. In the presence of PMA, A23187, and EGTA, addition of Ca++ was sufficient for priming, whereas the addition of Mg++ was much less efficient. Priming by IFN-gamma, however, was not blocked by EGTA. Efflux of 45Ca++ from preloaded cells was significantly increased by A23187 and by IFN-gamma. Quin-2/AM, an intracellular chelator of Ca++, blocked priming by IFN-gamma. In summary, the data suggest that priming of macrophages for tumoricidal function by IFN-gamma involves, at least in part, alterations in protein kinase C and in levels of intracellular Ca++.

The expression of early "competence" genes has been examined in murine peritoneal macrophages treated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). This set of genes (e.g., c-myc, c-fos, r-fos, JE, and KC) were first described in BALB/c 3T3 cells treated with platelet-derived growth factor. We have previously reported that LPS induces the rapid and transient expression of both c-myc and c-fos in macrophages. In the present report, we present evidence demonstrating that the mRNA for JE and KC are also induced in macrophages after treatment of LPS. The r-fos gene was not detectably induced by LPS under the experimental conditions used in this study. The induction of JE and KC were dependent upon the dose of LPS and exhibited different time courses. mRNA for both KC and JE was induced within 30 min from the initiation of treatment. Although mRNA for JE continued to accumulate for up to 24 hr, mRNA for KC was optimally seen after 60 min and had disappeared by 4 hr. c-fos, JE, and KC mRNA were all inducible by a variety of structurally diverse but functionally similar agents (e.g., heat killed Listeria monocytogenes, maleyl-bovine serum albumin, and fucoidan). Interferon-gamma, a potent but functionally distinct stimulus of macrophage activation, did not effect the expression of JE or KC mRNA. The expression of mRNA for c-fos could be readily induced by treatment of macrophages with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) alone and that for JE by PMA plus the inophore A23187; mRNA for KC was largely unaffected by these agents. These results suggest that expression of the c-fos and JE genes are regulated by products of polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis. The difference between c-fos or JE and KC raises the possibility that LPS may stimulate at least two independent routes of early gene expression. LPS does not promote macrophage proliferative activity alone, and in fact inhibits the proliferative response to the macrophage growth factor colony-stimulating factor 1. Taken together these findings suggest that the products of these genes may function in the acquisition of competence for highly differentiated functions in addition to that for cell division.

We examined the effect of maleyl-BSA on specific protein expression in murine peritoneal macrophages by radiolabeling treated macrophages with [35S]methionine followed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Such treatment induces the expression of a set of at least seven proteins (38, 42, 57, 65, 75, 80, and 85 kD). A similar set of proteins is also induced by treatment of macrophages with the algal polysaccharide fucoidan. The proteins resemble those induced in response to treatment of this same cell population with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), as judged by co-migration in both one- and two-dimensional electrophoresis. Two proteins induced by either LPS or maleyl-BSA (e.g., p57 and p85) show similar primary structure, as assessed by partial proteolytic peptide mapping confirming their identity. The induction of these proteins by maleyl-BSA is a transient phenomenon, being expressed as early as 1 hr after treatment and declining after 8 hr even in the continuous presence of the stimulus. The dose of maleyl-BSA required to induce the response varies to some extent with the protein in question, but agrees with the Kd for ligand-receptor binding. Chloroquine, which blocks the degradation of ligand, does not inhibit the induction of early protein synthesis. Whereas the induction of these proteins is blocked by inhibition of RNA synthesis with actinomycin D, the reversible inhibition of protein synthesis with cycloheximide during the induction phase does not prevent their expression. LPS, maleyl-BSA, and fucoidan previously have been shown to stimulate protease secretion and tumoricidal function in appropriately primed macrophages. The present findings now demonstrate that all three agents can also mediate the expression of early genes which may participate in the acquisition of functional competence.